VA Statewide Candidates Make Pitches To Minority Business Leaders

FAIRFAX, VA — Candidates for statewide offices in Virginia made a pitch to minority business leaders in a Northern Virginia forum on Thursday.

The 10th annual Candidates Forum was open to the public as the Nov. 2 election approaches and early voting begins on Sept. 17. November's election will decide races for Virginia governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, House of Delegates and some local offices.

Candidates participating in the forum were gubernatorial candidates: Terry McAuliffe (Democrat) and Glenn Youngkin (Republican), lieutenant gubernatorial contenders Hala Ayala (Democrat) and Winsome Sears (Republican), and attorney general hopefuls Mark Herring (Democrat) and Jason Miyares (Republican).

The forum at the University of North America in Fairfax was organized by the Multicultural Chamber Alliance, which consists of the Asian American Chamber, the Northern Virginia Black Chamber and the Virginia Hispanic Chamber. The moderator was Peggy Fox, media and community relations manager for Dominion Energy in Northern Virginia.

In opening remarks, Fox highlighted the importance of the collaboration between minority-owned business leaders. She cited a 2019 study that found 128,000 minority-owned businesses in Northern Virginia, representing 42 percent of businesses.

The forum allowed candidates to provide statements before answering questions. Youngkin, McAuliffe, Ayala and Herring provided remarks in person, while Miyares and Sears spoke through video conferencing.

Gubernatorial Candidates

Since Virginia governors cannot serve consecutive terms, current Gov. Ralph Northam is not running in 2021. McAuliffe, the Democratic candidate for governor, is running again after serving as governor from 2014 to 2018. Youngkin emerged as the Republic nominee for governor in a convention earlier in 2021.

In his remarks on Thursday, Youngkin touted his background outside politics and outlined his top priorities for governor. He spoke about starting his first job as a teenager to help his family when his father lost his job and playing basketball opened up doors for him in college. He went on to hold leadership positions at Carlyle Group and helped it become a leading investment firm.

"Education equipped me with a mechanical engineering degree in college to open doors that I could have never imagined," said Youngkin. "Dream them, and all of a sudden I knew I could go get them. That's what I want all Virginians ... to feel confident about doing."

Youngkin outlined issues he wants to address: an economy that struggles to compete with nearby states, falling standards in schools, and continuing gaps between white and minority children in testing results. He said his Day One Plan upon taking office would include eliminating the grocery tax, halt the gas tax increase, doubling the standard deduction on income tax. He also supports higher teacher pay, more funding for special education, investing in workforce training, and not taking resources away from law enforcement.

"There's a big decision to be made in Virginia ... I believe in bringing Virginians together to work on the most important topics: economic growth, jobs, schools, safe communities," said Youngkin. "I've seen more division over the course of the last few years in our country, in our commonwealth than I've ever seen in my life. Here's our opportunity to work together."

McAuliffe has touted accomplishments during his term as governor such as restoration of felon rights, over 1,000 economic development deals, leaving the state with a budget surplus, making reforms on transportation, and making investments in education. He said leaders in both parties convinced him to him again. He encouraged voters to look at his policies on his campaign website on rural, job creation, affordable housing and transportation.

Among the initiatives he worked on were turning around the bankrupt Port of Virginia, negotiating a deal to keep United Airlines at Dulles Airport, and helping to negotiate the Amazon headquarters deal in Arlington later announced by Northam's administration. McAuliffe said Northam has continued the work and highlighted Virginia's ranking as the top state for business by CNBC and high rankings for K-12 and higher education.

If elected again, McAuliffe wants to raise teacher pay above the national average, get more kids in PreK, raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and expand broadband access.

On the topic of business, McAuliffe also noted, "businesses are not coming to states that discriminate, plain and simple."

McAuliffe has called for vaccine mandates for health care staff and school staff and criticized his Republican opponent for not taking a stronger stance on the COVID-19.

"If we want to finally kill this COVID crisis, which if we don't do it, we'll kill our economy and kill our citizens, it's time to stand up and show leadership," said McAuliffe. "Let's get everyone vaccinated here in Virginia."

In light of Texas' restrictive new abortion law, the former governor has claimed that Youngkin would ban abortion. McAuliffe said he helped keep 16 women's reproductive clinics open during his time as governor.

"Stay out of women's personal lives. Let women make their own decisions about their own personal health choices," said McAuliffe.

Lt. Governor Candidates

The next lieutenant governor will also be new as incumbent Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax lost the Democratic gubernatorial primary. The Democratic nominee is Del. Hala Ayala, who represents part of Prince William County. The Republican nominee is Sears, who previously served as a delegate representing part of Norfolk.

Either way, the next lietenant governor will be a woman of color. Ayala, the daughter of a Salvadorean and North African immigrant father and Irish and Lebanese mother, was the first woman of color representing her House of Delegates district. Sears is a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Jamaica who became the first Black female Republican, female veteran and naturalized citizen in the House of Delegates.

Ayala said her life was affected by the loss of her father to gun violence when she was 2 years old. Her family moved to the Alexandria area and worked minimum wage jobs. She later became a cybersecurity specialist with the Department of Homeland Security. After being elected as delegate in 2017, she helped work to pass Medicaid expansion, increase teacher pay, Equal Rights Amendment, and provide COVID-19 business relief through the Virginia House of Delegates.

Ayala decided to run for lietenant governor after seeing COVID-19 exacerbate inequities. She can relate to people experiencing hardships herself.

"I am that worker that you're investing in every day," said Ayala. "I'm the [mother] who thought she was going to lose her life before giving birth to her child or during the process of giving birth. I am that parent of a child with a disability who didn't know how to put food on the table or keep a roof over our heads and sometimes went hungry."

She called the passage of Medicaid expansion a "proud moment," because she had needed affordable health care access as a mother. Ayala believes the expanded affordable health care access even more impactful due to the pandemic.

Ayala said she wanted to become a small business owner and started the paperwork to become a federal contractor. However, she found the process "arduous." She believes there have been steps to make the process more accessible and affordable to small, women-owned, and minority-owned businesses and enterpreneurs.

Ayala said she wants everyone to have a seat at the table, and business sustainability and support for workers can be prioritized at the same.

"For me, it's not an 'I.' It's a 'we.' It's an 'us,' how we can work together," said Ayala. "I'm not a business owner, but I look forward to working with each one of you to hear your ideals, the seeds that we need to continually plant as we look forward to grow the commonwealth."

Sears, the former chair of the Black Americans to Re-Elect Trump, said she doesn't want to be Virginia's leader, but rather "your leader" and "your voice." She said her father came to the U.S., which "changed the trajectory of our family." She credited education with pulling her out of poverty and believes education will do the same for other Virginians.

However, as the former vice president of the Virginia State Board of Education, she expressed concern about Virginia's math and reading assessment scores. She pointed out the large gaps among racial and ethnic groups, particularly Black children.

"We have got to do something better, because it is not working," said Sears.

On the topic of business, Sears touted her experience with the Chamber of Commerce in Hampton Roads.

"Businesses are not going to relocate to any place where the children are uneducated," said Sears. "We need a workforce that has a talent pool available that will attract businesses."

She also believes small businesses are faced with too many regulations, and the qualify of life affects where companies will locate higher-paying jobs.

"We need a forensic audit of how we are spending our money, how we are attracting businesses, the quality of life, the education, the government itself in Virginia," Sears said. "We need a top-to-bottom forensic audit. We do that in our businesses. We have to look at the numbers and see if they work...why can't we do that at the state government level?"

Sears encouraged voters to visit her website to learn more.

Attorney General Candidates

The attorney general candidates are Miyares, a former assistant commonwealth's attorney who is now a delegate in Virginia Beach, and Herring, the incumbent attorney general for eight years from Loudoun County. Unlike the governor, the attorney general can serve consecutive terms.

"I believe the attorney general should be the people's lawyer, working to keep Virginians safe and ensuring justice, equality and opportunity for all," said Herring. "For the last eight years, I have fought to make sure Virginians are safe and that we are getting justice and equality and opportunity."

Herring highlighted his experience in the private sector as a small business owner and lawyer and Virginia's ranking as the best state for business by CNBC. He said this gives him insights into how businesses can thrive. He also highlighted actions that impact minority communities: efforts to protect the DACA program, help DREAMers could get in-state college tuition, lawsuit victories to remove Confederate symbols, and blocking the Trump administration's travel ban on predominantly Muslim countries.

"We have made incredible progress in Virginia over the last eight years, and that is why I am running for reelection: to build that progress," said Herring.

Miyares, the first Cuban-American elected to the Virginia General Assembly spoke about his background and issues the attorney general should focus on. He said he could relate to residents who came to America seeking "hope and opportunity," since his mother left Cuba homeless and immigrated to the U.S. He said if elected, he would be the first child of an immigrant in the attorney general position.

"One of the things that makes that American miracle work, is when immigrants like my mother come to this country, they're not looking over their shoulder in fear.

Miyares criticized the one-party rule of Democrats in the state government and believes there needs to be checks and balances.

"One of the biggest problems we have in government is that sometimes people that are elected and sometimes people in government think that good intentions guarantee good results," said Miyares. "Often times they don't. They may be well-intentioned, but sometimes the results could actually end up hurting, and actually hurting Virginians."

He also believes parole appointments made by Democrats have allowed violent offenders to be released from too early. He cited the case of David Simpkins, who had 56 felony convictions and was released by the parole board early. In 2021, he was again convicted and sentenced for a 2020 armed robbery in Pulaski County.

On the business side, Miyares said he's heard from small business owners who say they're negatively impacted by new state or federal regulations.

"I want it to make it easier as attorney general for our small business owners to say 'you're hired' to more and more people," said Miyares.

For more information on the November general election, visit the Virginia Department of Elections website or your local election office's website.

Candidate websites:

• Glenn Youngkin: www.youngkinforgovernor.com
• Terry McAuliffe: terrymcauliffe.com
• Hala Ayala: www.halaforvirginia.com
• Winsome Sears: winsomesears.com
• Mark Herring: herringforag.com
• Jason Miyares: www.jasonmiyares.com